Success follows the 'Brave'... Ooops Sorry the 'Slave'

The past one year of my Professional career (also happens to be my First) has taught me a lot. A lot about life, life's strife and people. These days have been eye opening and certainly hard work. But most of all it has been an experience which has brought me back to my senses and shattered my perception that struggle ends with a Masters degree. Actually, the real struggle starts there. During the course of the year I have had the fortune to work in diverse companies of various shapes and sizes. My current employment is with the biggest organization in the country, which would be the government, prior to which I was with a leading Business Daily and before which I was in IT. Hence, I can safely say that I have had 'varied' experience. Earlier I had a very different picture of how work would be but now having experienced it, I would have to say it is not quite what I thought. It is a lot less fun and a lot more slogging each and every day if you want to keep going and growing. Otherwise, you would end up in the mass of unemployed and under employed skilled workers. It takes a lot more than good grades because good grades can get you to the interview but to pass through and actually perform needs a lot more than just technical knowledge. It needs a cool, calm and patient mind which has the strength of a Pressure Cooker and the superconductivity of ultra-cooled Mercury to let the unnecessary heat received from superiors to disappear into the environment without inciting a reaction. It also needs a person to be able suckup to people like a hotel waiter would to a generous tipper as part of his Personal Relations initiative because it is ultimately relations or rather relations emanating from mutual benefit which count and end up in the business category of the Blackberry contacts list. One should be ready to stay in late unnecessarily and may check his mails and perform other unproductive chores during the day so that he may appear diligent and hard working to the management by burning the midnight oil. It is also required that one may absolutely abolish one's sense of integrity and self importance in front of the superior and be on his toes to do everything frivolous and meaningless which may or may not (but is expected to be done) be asked of him. It needs to be mentioned that one has to be clearly ready to be underpaid if he wants to lead his life successfully without incidence in the office or else he would have a hard time finding or sticking to a job. One should have an understanding that the job responsibilities mentioned to him during the recruitment process are only indicative and one may deployed any place required as one is a 'Paid Resource' and not a 'Human' employee and moreover from the company's point of view putting you out to do anything is what it meant by giving you a broader experience and exposure.

For me these are a lot of things to ask for. I fall short on a lot of the above mentioned requirements especially on the sucking up and the peoples part and hence am yet to be counted as a 'Star' on the BCG matrix. Till then let me be happy being the 'Question Mark'.

Till the next time....
Adios

SM

Wisdom Cliche'd

An infrequent writer I may be but to think that I have given up expressing myself would be incorrect. Well to update my last few months have been filled with triumph and tribulations. More tribulations than triumphs but each one has in its own way taught me something. I say all this at the cost of my thoughts being labeled as cliche'. Cliche' they may be but the relevance of each of these cliche's has just hit me and I am a perturbed by the incapability of man to learn from old wisdom falling on his ears until having faced the situation himself. Had the homo sapiens been able to learn from past glories and fallacies then may be the history and course of events of the world might have been different. Hitler might not have lost WW-II learning from the fate of Napoleon's army in Russia and the world would certainly have been very different from now. The German empire would have reigned supreme.

Would the world have been better or worse? For one Europe would have greatly flourished but in a selective fashion. US would have to play second rung to Germany and considering that the Nazis would have won over Moscow they might well have had the might to make US succumb too. The possibilities are endless and on another perspective India would have gained independence through military battles rather than non violent means as the Azad Hind Fauj would have got support from the advancing Germans. What they would have done with the won India is certainly beyond the realms of my imagination. Japan would still have been very strong as it is today but not only financially but militarily also. But the fate of the Allied nations and its inhabitants would certainly have been horrendous.

Well just another line for you to think upon. I will continue with my personal story in the next post.

Till then...
Adios
SM

The Paradox called Life

Striving to be someone. Going after something. It is the same with everyone's life. Everybody is out there to prove something. But prove what. This unsatiable thirst to achieve and prove leads to what people call growth. But the only point is it is unsatiable. But it is so in only the successful ones. The commons have a philosophy and thinking of their own. They seldom think of big things and are happy if they had a stomachful each night and night after night.
So who is better?
This question is like two sides of a coin. Both has its pros and cons. One who wants to grow is ever perturbed and discontent. He rarely sleeps soundly in the night. Nothing seems to be up to the mark to him and excellence is a habit for him. So he seldom rejoices at the common joys of life as they are too commonplace for him to lower his guard and show his emotions. And to be very true to him, he doesn't feel much emotions at such prosaic occurances. He sees the best, tastes the best, feels the best but the best is just a matter of habit for him. It is nothing to be elated about. How could he ever but settle for the best?
While on the other hand, the simpleton is buoyed by the thought of receiving his salary at the end of the month and thinks of all the wonderful things he would buy out of it. The simple and cheap meals at the cornerside restaurant and roadside cloth shops seem like Armani to him. He cannot help but smile through the day at the thought of paying his next months rent and going out of the house with some pride at last. He cannot afford to visit any of the tourist spots as the journey would be too costly but he is very happy that finally after months he will finally be able to visit his native place to see his parents and family as he can afford it out of the salary that he would be getting.
Who is better and who should be followed? Please do implore a bit and share your thoughts on the subject.
Truly Yours,
SM

Are we killing Hindi?

Just a couple of days back I was watching one of the leading hindi national news channels, the story was about leaders of BJP using very tough Hindi, the clip that they showed to back their claim left me absolutely flabbergasted. I mean have our general sense and understanding of our mother tongue stooped to such abysmal levels that we as literate beings having passed out of a school system which teaches us Nirala, Dinkar and Pant, can't even understand our own mother tongue. I mean I don't expect a lay man to be familiar with that language but when a political leader addresses a gathering of reporters who thrive and earn their living mincing and manipulating language and words, he is well within his rights to use language and terminology which should not be foreign or alien to a literate mind. I find it actually shameful that such a thing was being shown by a leading channel on national TV.

As I have always said, Hindi needs protection and we should be proud of our language and not mock people who actually know it and are using it. Any developed nation has a thread binding its people. In most of the developed world it is religion and language. If not religion then let atleast language be the binding force. Only then can India rise as one.

Signing off....
SM

The Rejuvinated New Government

Finally the portfolios have been allotted and the new ministers are raring to go. It is really heartening to see some new faces which were badly needed in key ministries. The appointment of Mr. Sibbal in the HRD ministry is particularly welcome as the ministry was tottering and badly needed some drastic change of guard.

The new ministry looks reassuring and somehow the confidence in the team rises on seeing some very prominent and able people in key ministries. Also the step of moving Mr. Kamal Nath to the Roads and Highways ministry is a welcome step as it would certainly improve the kind of roads which have been neglected during the past tenure of UPA. Call it the Rahul effect or whatever but somehow I as a citizen of India feel more secure by seeing the current group of ministers at the helm and am optimistic of India rising and growing during the next 5 years though my optimism might soon fade away as it generally does when the thing comes to action. Politics is a dirty fabric and somehow or the other even the extremely effective and efficient tend to get self indulgent and defensive. It is due to this that the work on the ground suffers.

I certainly do wish the new government well and hope that it presents a tough stand on the Australia racism issue. It is extremely necessary that something is done about the blatantness with which racist attacks happen in Australia and the world community as a whole should condemn it. Even more condemning and shameful is the prosaic attitude of the Australian government towards the issue. The world should work as one against the problem.

The US also wants India to sign the NPT. The response and the course of negotiations would certainly be interesting. Another major issue is the obvious, which is the Recession.

Thus, there are numerous issues facing the government and it needs to be very meticulous and methodical in its handling. Good luck to them...

Signing off....
SM

'Mohan (60%) + Man (40%) = Manmohan' - Back again

Finally India will have a relatively stable government after such a long period of conundrum. The fact that the Congress has emerged on top is quite astonishing. Finally it will be a single captain boat which can sail in a particular direction without being diverted. The emphatic win has certainly raised the hopes of the commoner and the elite alike. The stock market gave a resounding bow to the new leader by making a historic day on Monday when it closed twice due to positive circuit breakers. 2100 points is what the Sensex gained. The industry is certainly hopeful which was also quite evident from the interviews of many industrialists on TV. The key portfolios in the government are getting decided and it is being assumed that selection for ministership will be on the basis of qualification and ability rather than armtwisting by allies. The cabinet will have to be inclusive but certainly this time the Congress will have a greater say.

Lets see who gets what. A lot of names are in the reckoning and I wish and believe that ability and performance should be the only bases for getting a cabinet berth. India will certainly have a better and safer future if common sense prevails within the CWC.

Wishing the new government the very best...

SM

My favourite TV show

Well what could be better? For a TV buff like me who watches loads of crap and a bit of useful stuff on the ibox (I prefer intellingent to be used in place of idiot for i), it would be quite an ordeal to single out a single show and call it my favourite. I mean I just watch so many of them and like so many of them. But for this show it certainly would have been a tough choice but having this show play on the TV makes it almost a no contest. So folks here and now I announce it... My favourite show on TV is BOSTON LEGAL.

Now that I think of it I just can't seem to find anything else which could change my mind. I mean how can it be something else. The show has got everything, a protagonist who loves to play with the law and has wicked ways of dealing with wicked people and takes twisted ways to get the law to go straight and get the guilty punished, we have a voyeuristic and promiscuous lead who brings the funny side and adds spice, we have a female lead who is the most sought after woman in the office, then we have numerous psychologically challenged people. All in all its fun and in all the fiasco and chaos the court cases and the closings by the famous lawyers from the 'Crane, Poole and Schmidt' firm are certainly enthralling. The judges are pure characters and all these ingredients make up an hour of extremely lovely and intriguing TV watching.

For someone like me who is an avid TV watcher it is hard to find something which really interests me besides the news, sports and comedy and here we have finally found a show which I love. I strongly recommend the show to everyone of you but obviously with an advisory that don't watch it with your parents or your children 'coz there would be moments when you would find yourself extremely uncomfortable.

Have a wonderful time watching it on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 PM on Star World....

SM